In industrial facilities that utilize machines having rotating components, vibration generated by the machines may be monitored to detect abnormal conditions that could lead to machine failure. Machine vibration may be monitored using an on-line data collection system or using a handheld portable vibration data collector carried by a technician from one machine to another. Such vibration data collectors typically employ a vibration sensor, such as a piezoelectric sensor, that generates an electrical signal indicative of vibration levels of the machine. The machine data is often stored in memory in the data collector as the technician acquires vibration data, and is uploaded to a data analysis computer after completion. A data analyst may then use vibration data analysis software running on the data analysis computer that processes the vibration data to provide information to the analyst regarding operational performance of the machines for which data was collected.
Sometimes the vibration data collected along the route is unusable due to problems in the way the data was collected. In some instances, the problems are due to electrical transients in the sensor signal, overloading of the sensor, or exposure of the sensor to mechanical shock immediately prior to the collection of the data.
What is needed is a method for detecting that vibration data is undesirable for data analysis purposes as the data is collected, and discarding the undesirable data prior to data analysis.